WTA: Thanks to torture on Court 75: Sloane Stephens finally in the Top 10

US Open winner Sloane Stephens will move into the top 10 of the tennis world for the first time on Monday – and has a good chance of staying there for a while.

Stephens seems to have finally overcome her form crisis. After her surprising triumph in Flushing Meadows in September, the American lost eight matches in a row and did not win again until February. With Garbine Muguruza (number 3 in the world) and Angie Kerber (number 10), Stephens has now also beaten her most notable opponents in Miami since the US Open.

Despite the time-out in terms of earnings in the meantime, Stephens could continue to rise in the coming weeks. After a long break due to her foot injury, she returned to the Wimbledon tournament in June 2017 and celebrated her first victory in early August in Toronto (where she reached the semi-finals and in Cincinnati), so she has no points to defend until then. Stephen’s comment on the Top 10: “Finally! I am so tired of hearing’highest career ranking 11′. But it’s not easy. Getting to 11 was tough – cracking the top 10 is very special” Stephens had reached rank 11 in October 2013, currently it ranks 12th.

The 25-year-old, often cried out as a player for the big courts and matches, also explained where most of the success comes from – not primarily from her motivation to compete against multiple major winners like Muguruza or Kerber. If you play against Niculescu and she slips and snipes you to Beijing, if you really have to fight and torture yourself. Stephens won against forehand slice lover Niculescu in round three after the Romanian had to give up in the decisive round.